Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Clint Bowyer using third-place Kentucky chassis at Homestead

Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon hug it out at Phoenix, kind of....

CORNELIUS, N.C. — As the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season comes to an end this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, No.15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota driver Clint Bowyer still has his sights set on three things – winning a race, winning a pole and finishing in the top-five in points.

Bowyer ranks eighth, 24 points out of the top-five finish his Michael Waltrip Racing crew set as a goal before the season.

BOWYER ON FINISHING STRONG: “This is our last chance to accomplish a couple of the goals that we set for this season – and that’s important to me. This is our last chance to win a race for the season. It’s our last chance to win a pole so we can race in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona. We want to finish top-five in points which is still a possibility. I know it might seem like a little bit of a long shot, but we were a long shot, a very long shot, to finish second last year and we did that with a little help. We have our own goals in this race and we are focused on accomplishing those goals. It means a lot to go into the off-season on a high note in terms of momentum and morale and we have a chance to do that this weekend.”

ON HOMESTEAD: “I’ve done well at Homestead in my career. If you look at some of the finishes we’ve had I think we’ve only really stubbed our toe once and that was a long time ago. We finished second last year to finish second in points. I would have loved to win that one for a lot of reasons, but I’m going to go out and do everything I can to win this weekend just like I do every weekend.”

NOTES: MWR in 2013: MWR cars have combined for two wins (Truex Jr. – Sonoma; Vickers – Loudon-1), 20 top-five and 44 top-10 finishes. The three-car team has led 834 laps and won one pole award (M. Martin – Phoenix-1). Bowyer is eighth in points trailing Jimmie Johnson by 87.

Bowyer in 2013: Bowyer has nine top-five (tied for seventh most), 18 top-10 (tied for sixth most) finishes in 2013. He ranks second in percentage of laps run on the lead lap (93.1 percent) and lead lap finishes (31). He has the third highest average finish (12.1) and completed the fourth most laps (10,133). He ranks sixth in laps run in the top-15 (74 percent) and average running position (12.76). Bowyer does not have a race win or a pole position in 2013.

Chassis: Primary chassis No. 738 finished 27th at Las Vegas, 11th at Darlington and third at Kentucky. Backup chassis No. 733 raced at Phoenix in March and raced at Pocono.

Testing: All three MWR teams tested at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 29-30 using their primary cars.